Apartheid in South Africa
Apartheid became the law in South Africa in 1948, while Roscoe Bartlett was at the University of Maryland. Apartheid was a legal system of racial segregation. The law classified all residents and even visitors to South Africa into racial categories, and stripped black residents of their citizenship. Interracial marriage was prohibited, and even having sex with someone of another race was made a crime. ID cards for adults set forth their racial classification, and the country was partitioned into separate areas for different races. Blacks could not attend white schools, eat at white restaurants or use white restrooms.
Opposition to apartheid grew both within South Africa and internationally. By 1985, the country was virtually in a civil war. The violence was appalling, and the government began to understand that apartheid could not survive.. In 1991, negotiations between the government and the African National Congress had brought an end to apartheid, and just three years later, Nelson Mandela was elected as South Africa's first black president.
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